Person-centered care for adult people with mental and intellectual disability. Survey on the availability and use of personal budget, direct payment and personalised care by interview to people with mental disability and their family

Project Title: Person-centered care for adult people with mental and intellectual disability. Survey on the availability and use of personal budget, direct payment and personalised care by interview to people with mental disability and their family

Duration of the project: 2-3 years

Main Topic

Integration of social and healthcare services is an important step towards coordinating the delivery of care and reducing waste and burden on the system. Indeed, integrating care services promote patient-based care. Integrated care involves the formation of multidisciplinary teams; integration across sectors; greater involvement of the community (e.g. improving family and community-based care; community-based mental health model; community-orientated primary care). Under the old still existent support system, social services and other professionals assessed you, and then told you what services they were going to provide. Patient-based care requires the participation of patients, their family members, and the community in the design and delivery of care services. There is some evidence that the introduction of direct payments, a precursor to personal health budgets, for carers of disabled children is a welcome initiative enabling parents and carers ‘to take control’ and reducing the need for contact with different service providers – regarded as one of the most stressful aspects of caring for a disabled child. With a personal budget, you are able to say what you want out of life, and plan what support would be best for you. However, little is currently known about: i) what type of support people and their families needs or wants from rehabilitation therapy and/or social care; ii) how they may decide to use a personal health budget when this option becomes more widely available.

Objective

Population target: People with mental and intellectual disability, their family, professionals involved in provision or management of welfare services.

Aim: The survey aims to investigate manifold aspects of the existent Italian welfare services for adult people with mental and intellectual disability:

To know which kind of services benefit the target population and their distribution across Italian macro-areas and if there are social or geographical determinants which affect access to available services.
To know the perspectives of the target population (or their family) on existent social and health supports when considering their specific needs

To know the perspectives of the target population (or their family) on ‘personal budget’ as suitable welfare option in light of their specific needs and socio demographic traits.

To know the perspective of socio and health professionals, including administrative employers, on ‘personal budget’ and/or direct payment as suitable welfare option for target population.

Title of WP or Activity

Are there social or geographical determinants affecting access to available services? Are there social or geographical determinants affecting access to welfare service that promote personalisation of care such as personal budget or direct payment? Are innovative welfare based on care personalization such as personal budget and direct payment universally effective in responding to the individual need of people with mental and intellectual disability?

Expected results

By the analysis of data we will verify: i) if patients and familiar socio-demographic traits affect the access to existent welfare services; ii) if patients and familiar socio-demographic traits affect the access to welfare services aimed to promote the engagement of the patient (or of his/her family) in the planning of care; iii) If supports provided by Italian welfare are aligned with needs of people with intellectual and mental disability.

Department/Center: Centro di riferimento per le Scienze comportamentali e la Salute mentale (SCIC)